The Child Life Program at Rush Children's Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, focuses on the emotional and developmental well-being of hospitalized children and their families. Hospitalization interrupts a child's normal life. Illness, confinement, and painful medical treatment can be very frightening and confusing to children. When children are seriously ill, they may become more dependent on their parents, lose their self-esteem, and miss out on many learning opportunities. All of this can jeopardize a child's physical, emotional, and intellectual growth. Through therapeutic play, art, and other forms of communication, our program strives to help children and families cope with the difficult experience of being in a hospital.

We understand that each child has different physical, social, emotional and educational levels of development. To ensure that we address their differing needs, we have divided our program into four major components based on various ages of childhood and adolescence:

• Activities for Infants & Toddlers
• Program for Preschool Children
• Program for School-Age Children
• Adolescent Program

In addition to age-specific activities, Child Life offers a variety of special programs. The Snow City Arts Foundation helps children learn through fun and educational art workshops in music, writing, and visual art. Other programs include pet therapy, pre-hospitalization tours, therapeutic humor and massage.

The Child Life Program is staffed by four certified child life specialists who provide services to children on pediatric units, as well as bone marrow transplant, heart transplant, neurology, orthopedics or any other units where children may be admitted.